Hideo Kobayashi: Spearheading the age of the professional critic
In the autumn of 1956, Japan's most renowned literary critic, the 54-year-old Hideo Kobayashi, engaged in taidan ( a "conversation" to be published in a magazine) with 31-year-old rising literary star Yukio Mishima. Early that year Mishima's novel, "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion," had ...
'Physicatopia': Boys being boys
Being only a part-time art historian, but full-time gossip, I spend more time commiserating with my single female friends on the problem of "Why are there no great men?" than I ponder the rhetorical "Why have there been no great women artists?", as feminist ...
Kimura's crazed 'Macbeth' for today
"When I was studying English literature at the University of Tokyo, even though I had no theater experience at all, I got the chance to direct 'Macbeth,' " 33-year-old Ryunosuke Kimura explained when we met recently at a rehearsal studio in downtown Tokyo. "To start ...
Strolling old Fukagawa, where gardens and true glitterati mingle
I may be jumping the gun a bit on fall colors, but early October's glorious weather has got me craving some autumnal arboreality.
